Remembering Wonderland
by Xajemm-Eater-of-GummyBears
Summary: Alice is now a successful business woman. It has been a year since the disaster of an engagement party where she had hit her head. Now as her business grows Alice can't help but feel as if she's forgetting something very important. But what? R&R please.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey Xajemm speaking. This is my first ever fanfic (at least that I remember writing). It may not be very good and I apologize but hey that's where any kind, sweet, beautiful people who wish to review come in and let me know just how bad it really is XD. Please don't spare any problems you have with the fiction I need to know what I do wrong to get better.**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, the lovely people of Alice in Wonderland aren't mine (although, if I could, I'd buy the Tweedles.) **

**Warnings: None for this chapter.**

**Alright on with the show...**

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_Vision__ without action is a daydreamer. Action without vision is a nightmare. _Japanese Proverb

Remembering Wonderland

There was no doubt about it. Alice was bored.

She had travelled to China and struck up a deal which had left herself and Lord Ascot feeling extremely accomplished. Unfortunately they found that they wouldn't be the only company to trade in China for very long, however they had managed to keep their heads held above the stiff competition by other such businesses.

Yes, she was successful, she was still young and smart, still had that pretty face which caught the eyes of more than a few young men, although, for whatever reason, they held nothing of interest for her, something about their eyes she thought, and she was still incredibly bored.

She was sitting in a carriage returning to her home from yet another party. (One thing about success that really grated on Alice's nerves was the constant requirement to socialise.) The party itself had been incredibly dull, just tea and chatter and, of course, the dreaded Quadrille. Whilst sipping at her tea Alice had been struck by the familiar feeling that something wasn't right. The tea was too mild, the chatter not nearly... animated enough and the dancing, at this she had an image of a strange man with his head spinning and had snorted right in the middle of one of Aunt Imogene's tales of royalty (earning her a startled squawk from the poor delusional woman and a tut from one of the nearby 'Ladies' over her uncouth behaviour.)

Now, travelling home to her mother, for she would never dream of moving out of the house she had grown up in with her parents, she was finally able to relax. She pulled her hair out of the messy assortment her sister had tried so bravely to tame and let the long yellow waves flow in a wild mane around her head and shoulders. She let out a sigh and cringed at the pain in her feet from so long standing and 'chit-chatting', what she wouldn't do for something soft to rest her feet on, like a warm pig's belly she thought sleepily and then shook herself. She scolded herself mentally for such a ridiculous and uncivilised thought. What her mother would say if she knew that her second daughter was thinking such poppycock at her age, the thought of it made Alice shudder. She settled herself back into the soft cushioned back of the carriages seating, cursing the corset she was sporting as it dug into her ribs and hating the itching feel of the stockings she had been coerced into wearing, she closed her eyes, it was a long ride ahead of her and she might as well use the peace to her fullest.

It was like this that Alice fell asleep.

***

She opened her eyes in the midst of a swirling mass of foul smelling smoke, some kind of tobacco she presumed. Squinting she could just make out a tinge of blue before it was enveloped in the darkness she tried moving towards it but with every step she took she seemed to be getting nowhere.

"Hello? Is... Is anyone there?" she choked out, having inhaled a lungful of the disgusting air. She coughed forcing tears into her eyes. A noise, from behind startled her and she spun around, the noise moved with her, it was fast panicked breathing and the sound of it brought a dull spark of fear into Alice's chest. "Who is that? Where am I? Please somebody answer me." She shouted into the never ending cloud. The breathing grew louder along with the patter of feet, it sounded as though a small animal, a rabbit perhaps was sprinting towards her.

"Oh my ears and whiskers! I'm late!" a strange voice echoed weakly around Alice. She jumped, turning her head wildly, searching for the source of the voice. She could not speak for fear, only managing a strangled sob as the sound of crashing filled the air something whizzed past her head and she screamed. When she looked down she saw a shattered tea cup on the ground near her feet. Alice collapsed to the ground and clenched her eyes shut, tears were now pouring down her face.

"Oh god, please help me." She sobbed...

She was jolted awake as her carriage hit a bump. Alice could feel the tears on her face and reached up to wipe them away when something stopped her. She had dirt on her fingers, out of instinct she looked down and saw the same dark smudges on her dress around her knees. She felt fear slice through her like ice.

***

When Alice finally arrived at her London home she was ready to just go in and collapse on the nearest chair, unfortunately she knew that would have to wait. She still had a busy day ahead of her. She had a meeting to attend with Lord Ascot discussing the possibility of expanding their posts in Bangkok and Jakarta, something which Lord Ascot was certain her father would be very pleased with, her mother had invited Alice's sister Margaret and her husband Lowell to dinner with them at eight, and Alice still had a mountain of paperwork to look at. She sighed mournfully to herself, no rest for the wicked as they say.

A child ran past Alice, drawing her from her thoughts. She smiled as the child, a young girl of around five years of age, began to sing a nursery rhyme jollily to herself. Alice could just catch a few words of the song but they seemed to stir something familiar in her.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are"

Alice was suddenly struck by a memory of laughter and the smell of tea. She saw a flash of bright red in her mind and felt a fluttering in her stomach. Brushing it off as stress she stepped past the girl to the dark wood door of her home and stepped inside quickly.

"Alice? Is that you?" her mother called from the upstairs landing, Alice heard her charging down the staircase and looked up with a polite smile on her face.

"Hello, mother." She said amused as Helen Kingsleigh flustered around her muttering and tutting alternately "How are you today?"

Helen snapped her head up, lips pursed and hummed. "You should have been back from that party half an hour ago Alice. Lord Ascot is in the study waiting." She chided "Well, what are you waiting for? Don't leave the man waiting." With this she raised her arms shooing a bewildered Alice towards the study. Alice allowed herself a chuckle and a "Yes mother" before stepping out of her mother's reach and walking herself to the room in which the kindly old man was waiting.

When she stepped into the room her face instantly lit up into a warm smile at the kind man sitting in front of her.

"Alice, how nice it is to see you again. You look well." Lord Ascot nodded towards Alice and her mother.

"I could say the same to you sir." Alice said pleasantly. It was indeed true, China had done very well for the man as his skin had taken on a healthy brown colour which had only slightly faded, Alice herself had earned nothing but sunburn and so had kept wrapped up the entire trip to avoid further pain, his greying hair had also lightened but it was a look that suited him well. "I apologize for my lateness, dear old Aunt Imogene was quite lost in a rather interesting tale of her fiancé, he's the Tsar of Russia you know."

Lord Ascot chuckled at this and patted the seat next to him "Well, in that case you're forgiven." He smiled. Alice sat in the chair he had motioned to, happy to be in the presence of the grandfatherly old man. Sitting here like this she could put all other thoughts out of her head and simply talk business.

This is exactly what she did.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello all, Xajemm again. I checked my emails and what did I see but Reviews. I still feel giggly about it (And I try to avoid getting giggly, you all know how hard it is to stop). I decided that it would be cruel to keep you guys waiting for too long, that is if any of you guys are waiting, so I decided to update with Chapter 2 (*Cue Dramatic Music*). I thought I ought to explain something about the story to ya. It will be HatterxAlice eventually and it may take a while to get there but**_** c'est la vie.**_** I have to apologize in advance, updating will be sporadic as I have exams coming up yadda yadda.**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1. I really don't wanna remind myself of what's not mine.**

**Warnings:**

_Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world._ Albert Einstein.

Chapter 2

The dinner with Margaret and Lowell was tense. Since Alice's mother was in the kitchen with Dinah (the families' maid) Alice was the one who answered the door to welcome her sister and brother-in-law. She made sure to give Lowell a withering look as he walked in the door, Margaret, as usual, remained oblivious to the hostilities between her sister and spouse and announced cheerily "I see that the two of you have redecorated, the place looks lovely." as she bounced around the hallway ahead of her silent and sour faced companions.

Alice turned to glare at Lowell before asking him snidely "How is your friend Hattie."

Lowell frowned before replying haughtily "She's doing perfectly well, thank you." and then, much to Alice's fury, "I'll be sure to tell her you were asking." With Alice watching him with stormy eyes, he walked towards his wife and placed an arm around her waist.

It had been this way for an entire year, ever since Alice had seen them at the party. Lowell, trusting that Alice would not be able to hurt her sister by telling her of the affair, had continued on seeing Hattie (and possibly not just Hattie at that) and had acted as though he was in the right. Alice would have loved for her sister to get rid of the man, if he could be called that, but knew that she would, like Lowell suspected, be unable to tell her sister such awful bad news. Alice often found herself positively livid just thinking about it.

Once the group had made themselves comfortable in the dining room and Helen had joined them greeting Margaret and Lowell with a delighted smile on her face, to see her family together around the cherry wood table that her dear husband Charles had loved so much made her extremely happy, they began their meal. Margaret chatting animatedly with the others with the childish excitement she had never quite grown out of. Alice decided to give up, for now, on her silence and join in the comfortable chatter.

"Oh Alice, did you hear? Mr Partrow just down the road from the butchers is planning a birthday treat for his Mina; I hear he's going to take her to the opera." Margaret gibbered "I'd love to see her face when they get there. Got seats in the front row I hear."

Alice and Helen played their parts by adding in an "Oh yes?" or a "How exciting!" when needed and throughout the dinner they were all feeling quite jolly. This feeling of joviality lasted until Dinah came to clear the plates and Alice caught Lowell sending a furtive glance towards her rear end.

As the group made their way to the drawing room to further converse Alice put her hand on Lowell's shoulder and said "Lowell, a word." before she curtly added "Please." for good measure. However, when Lowell stepped out into the hallway the incensed young blonde promptly turned to slap him soundly across his left cheek.

"I can't believe the nerve of you!" she fumed as he put a hand to his cheek and sputtered uselessly "You have a wife who loves you dearly and you dare to look at our _staff _like that while she _is still in the room_. Don't interrupt." She snapped as Lowell opened his mouth to protest, he immediately snapped it shut as, in his honest opinion, Alice was positively terrifying at the moment, "Not only that either! _No, _I spoke to Hattie just a week ago; she very proudly informed me that you '_Love_' her, Yes Lowell Love meaning that you've been messing with her head as well. Now I may not have told Margaret yet, but don't think that I never will. You only have to push me so far before I _snap!_" by now Alice was quite out of breath and Lowell appeared to be more than a little shocked, with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open, Alice tried to compose herself, patting out invisible creases in her dress and combing her fingers through her long blonde hair, before puffing out her chest and moving into the room where her mother and sister were sitting chattering happily, a complete contrast to the mood in the hallway. Helen glanced up and raised her eyebrows at Alice's flushed face and her eyebrows rose even further, almost comically high on her head, at the sight of Lowell's reddening cheeks but she said nothing on the subject, clearly trying not to notify Margaret and ruin the mood.

Alice cringed as her presence in the room invited the topic to change to that of marriage; it was going to be a long visit...

***

As it turns out, Alice's worries were unnecessary as Margaret and Lowell did not stay for long as Margaret, finally picking up on the stony silence from her husband assumed that he wished to head home and said her goodbyes.

"We'll have to invite you round to our home more often," Margaret gushed "and perhaps invite a few more people to make an evening of it." She added with a pointed look at Alice earning an uncomfortable smile from the younger woman.

When they had finally collected their effects and left the house, Margaret waving animatedly until they were out of sight, Alice plopped herself heavily onto the drawing rooms comfortable two seater and heaved a sigh.

"I do wish she would stop trying to marry me off to every man she meets." Alice moaned (although she would never use that word herself as moaning made her seem impudent and childish).

"Oh hush." Her mother chided "You know she's only trying to look after you. Which by the way does not excuse you from telling me what exactly all that was about earlier." Alice looked up, Helen did not look happy, this bode badly for her.

She decided to play innocent "All what?" she said in her best, not guilty voice "Lowell and I were just talking." She thought about fluttering her lashes but decided against it, she didn't want to seem as though she was mocking her mother.

"Don't try that with me young lady, you and I both know perfectly well that your sister is very happy with Lowell, and whether we like him or not she needs _something_ to keep herself happy. She's not like you, Alice, she needs _people_ to survive, and she can't just sit contently with her nose in a book or scratching out accounts while the world passes her by." Helen's tone softened "You know," she started slowly "I worry too, I don't trust that man but it's not my place to interfere, nor is it yours."

Alice looked up at her mother standing over her and marvelled at how much older the woman looked, the worry lines much more apparent on her forehead and the crows feet and wrinkles around her lips deepened by her frowns, she wondered why everyone seemed so much sadder now, it felt as though there should be bright colours everywhere and smiles on every face. _But life isn't bright colours or smiles _she thought morosely _that's the stuff of dreams._

"I know mother, believe me I know. But I also know she can do better. She _deserves_ better than being stuck in a one-sided marriage. If only she would realize." The last part was whispered and Helen moved to sit next to her daughter, hand on her shoulder comfortably. Together they sat and let the exhaustion of the day, the worry for Margaret and the joint loss they felt after the death of Helen's husband, Alice and Margaret's father, wash over them and each swore to herself that they would not let this family be torn apart by others.

**AN.**

**I know this one isn't at all Wonderland centred but I feel that not enough importance is given to Alice's family. I think that they would matter a lot to her despite their nagging and despite the views of quite a few people I feel she loves them dearly, which is why I felt this chapter was important to show the family together and how I feel they interact. I feel that I have done okay with their personalities but if you think that there is room for improvement please be as harsh as necessary. Sorry for the wait by the way, I had an important NAB today which I revised for all week (NABs are test which tell us whether we're allowed to sit the big tests so basically tests for tests.) Please Review, criticisms welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3

_Wonder is the beginning of wisdom_

Greek Proverb

Chapter 3

Very soon, Monday was rolling by. Alice had spent the morning once again caught in the soul-destroying world of accounting, sorting through different charts and accounts and doing other tedious work. By the time she had finished with the charts she felt as though she simply had to get out of the house and into the fresh air and life of the streets outside. She had announced to her mother that she was going out for some fresh air and Helen, seeing an opportunity to lessen her own workload, had insisted that she got the messages while she was out.

Out in the streets Alice felt awake, the fresh crisp air cleared her head and allowed her to simply enjoy the sunshine pouring onto her skin. She had finished shopping quickly and was now just relishing in the hustle and bustle that was London. Everywhere, people were talking, groups of woman spreading the newest gossip, children laughing and playing, well dressed gentlemen nodding and greeting one another before continuing on their journeys. This, Alice decided, was life.

While she was walking she reflected on the past week. She thought of her argument with Lowell which led on to her thinking about Hattie. Alice found it difficult to be angry at Hattie as, from what she heard; the girl had been just as much tricked as Margaret. She recalled the conversation she had had with the woman just over a week ago. She had been out at another social event and Hattie had just happened to be 'accompanying' one of the young men attending (_Of course she was_,Alice had thought bitterly at the time, _these people have an awful lot of trouble with loyalty after all, it's a wonder that they only follow one religion._)

***

_Alice had been walking__ along the path quickly, trying to avoid yet another potential 'suitor' this one a rather pompous lawyer by the name of Cedric something or other, when she collided with something solid in front of her._

"_Oof!" the 'something' huffed,"Oh dear, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to... Oh, it's you." It was then that Alice, still rather slow from lack of sleep, noticed that the 'something' was in fact a 'someone' and that she was currently glaring down at the confused blonde, still on the floor._

_Alice squinted up and recognition dawned on her face "Oh!" she gasped then, with as much pompousness as she could muster added "Hattie." and stood to continue on her way._

"_Don't you start acting as though you're better than me." Hattie huffed, "Just 'because you think that me and Lowell are doing something wrong doesn't make it true."_

_Alice stopped at this; she could not accept any claims that Lowell's affair with Hattie was anything other than 'wrong'. "How can you say that? What about my sister? Is it not 'wrong' that he's going behind her back while pretending to be the ever faithful husband that he so clearly isn't? Or how about the fact that he hasn't the guts to pick just one of you and instead has the three of you caught in this mockery of a game?" When she'd stopped her mini rant she was panting and red in the face. Hattie looked furious that Alice would dare insult 'precious' Lowell._

"_You don't know him," she replied quietly "He said he loves me.__ He's only with Margaret for effect, so no one would get suspicious, told me to stay with Henry. He wants to be with me!"_

_This left Alice shocked, she was sure that Lowell didn't see Hattie as anything other than a benefit; that he carried on the affair because of the excitement of living a secret, not out of anything even remotely resembling love (to be honest, she was starting to think him incapable of such complex emotions)._

Alice snapped back to the present, all this thought of Lowell and Hattie left her quite irate and she did not want to return home mad. She tried to amuse herself by thinking up nicknames for all the people she didn't like (Batty Hattie, Un-loyal Lowell, Snooping Hooper just down the road from her house...)

She kept on walking aimlessly until she found herself standing in front of a rather elegant looking Hat store. The store front was painted white with absolutely enormous display windows showing all sorts of beautiful headgear.

Something about the shop hooked Alice's interest and she stepped inside curiously.

She was met by an awe inspiring sight. There were hats everywhere (_Obviously_, A little voice in Alice's head piped up, _that's why they call it a 'Hat' shop_. She quickly dismissed the voice however as she thought herself far too sane to be listening to little voices in her mind.), hats of all colours and shapes. There were bright red and purple fezzes, straight black top hats, pink and blue bonnets, straw caps and various other items of headwear.

One hat in particular caught her attention; it was a dark purple top hat with a pink ribbon around it. Four hat pins stuck out from beneath the ribbon, one was a small three-dimensional diamond, another rather beautiful blue crystal, and beside these was a bright peacock feather. All in all, it was the most outrageously extravagant hat she had ever seen (not that she had spent much time looking at hats in the past). She reached out to pick it up when a cool voice sounded from behind her.

"That is not for sale, young lady, and I would appreciate if you didn't touch it." The unnamed voice snapped. Alice jumped in surprise before turning around to look at the source of the noise. She saw a thin old man with short dark grey hair and eyes. His face seemed to be all angles and his eyes were hooded by thick black eyebrows which looked unnaturally dark compared to his hair and skin. He was dressed in a black suit with a white shirt underneath.

"Oh, um, sorry." Alice stuttered still startled by the man's appearance "I was just looking, you have a wonderful shop." She added hoping to lighten the man's expression with a compliment. It did not work.

"Well if you're just _looking_ you can look somewhere else," The man sniffed "We don't accept loiterers." He looked like he was going to physically drag Alice from the shop so she decided to save him an injury and leave but not before adding a complaint or two about poor customer service.

"You can only receive customer service if you are a customer." The man droned in his emotionless voice before shutting the door on Alice's face.

Alice was quite aghast; she had never met a man so rude in her entire life. Besides, she was sure that Hatters were meant to be kind and colourful characters, not miserable old men with mono-brows. To think that a man like him made such an exquisite hat was absurd.

**---**

**A/N:**

**Well, what do you think? Sorry for the wait. My teachers have recently become very homework happy. On the plus side though, I passed my NAB. (Ooh yeah! I is a Higher Business Management student now!).**

**Please review. I want to know whether the chapter was good or an utter waste of web space.**

**Ciao, Bellas! XD**


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